REGION: Stone aims to curb pensions, set campaign limits

Riverside one of two remaining large counties that don't restrict contributions to candidates

Supervisor Jeff Stone wants to set campaign contribution limits
for candidates running for Riverside County offices, and to lay the
groundwork for a ballot measure that would ask voters to curb
pension benefits for county law enforcement officers.

Stone, whose 3rd District seat is up for re-election in 2012,
has proposed that contributions be capped at $5,000 per year to
supervisor candidates and $10,000 per year to people aiming to be
sheriff, district attorney, treasurer-tax collector,
auditor-controller or assessor-clerk-recorder.

"The thought is that the supervisors only have to campaign to
one-fifth of the county," Verne Lauritzen, Stone's chief of staff,
said in a telephone interview Monday.

The sheriff and others, on the other hand, make their pitches to
all Riverside County residents, Lauritzen said.

Stone's pension initiative, meanwhile, comes from his
frustration with the county's unproductive negotiations with the
Riverside Sheriffs' Association, a union that represents about
3,000 county law enforcement officers.

County officials have been talking with union representatives,
hoping to hash out pay and pension concessions.

Both items are scheduled to be taken up by the Board of
Supervisors on Tuesday at the County Administrative Center, 4080
Lemon St. in Riverside.

Stone has asked for an analysis of the cost of placing on the
ballot a measure that would reduce pensions by one-third for all
new employees, raise the retirement eligibility from 50 to 55,
require officers to make contributions toward their retirement and
freeze salary increases.

"It is not the supervisors' intent to create any animosity,"
Lauritzen said. "We've already negotiated cooperative agreements
with all the other unions. They have been willing to talk about
pension reform, but so far RSA hasn't. The whole point here is,
'Let's sit down and talk. But if you prefer, we'll let the people
decide.'"

Sheriff's deputies and probation officers used to receive 60
percent of their final salaries as pensions, if they worked 30
years.

But in June 2001, when the county was flush with cash, the board
boosted the retirement benefit to 90 percent.

Stone's initiative would roll the benefit back to 60
percent.

A 'public display'?

Pat McNamara, the union's president, said the association has
been negotiating in good faith and will continue to, but he added
that Stone's initiative isn't helping matters.

"We believe his public display is meant to pressure us at the
table, a tactic we've seen multiple times over the years, although
not in recent years," McNamara wrote in an e-mail. "Mr. Stone lacks
the institutional knowledge to know the bargaining history between
the RSA and the county, so he may have inadvertently dusted off an
old strategy from a long obsolete playbook."

Stone said he is simply trying to balance the books. He said the
county can't afford the current benefit level.

Revenue that supports the portion of the county budget
supervisors control has plummeted by almost $200 million from a
peak of $785 million in fiscal year 2006-07 to $592 million this
year.

And because supervisors agreed to spend $673 million this fiscal
year, the county is digging into its reserves to make ends
meet.

The county is aiming to end its recent trend of deficit spending
next year.

But with projected revenue of $590 million for fiscal 2011-12,
that will require making significant cuts.

But that doesn't mean the officers on the street aren't
important, Stone said.

"I value, honor and respect every deputy sheriff in Riverside
County. Anyone who puts their life on the line deserves the utmost
respect," he said. "I have been the strongest public safety
advocate, I believe, on the Board of Supervisors. But we are at a
fork in the road in this county, and the citizens need to come
first."

Negotiations ongoing

The board and deputies union have clashed for more than a year
over potential pension reductions. The association launched a
petition drive that placed a measure ---- Measure L ---- on the
November 2010 ballot to require voter approval for any cuts.

And it passed.

But so did competing Measure M, which was placed on the ballot
by the board to preserve county authority to determine
pensions.

Because it received more votes, under state law Measure M
prevails.

Still, Stone said that after 60 hours of negotiations with the
union, talks haven't progressed.

And he said it may be necessary to appeal to voters. If the
state sets a special June election on state tax extensions, as Gov.
Jerry Brown has called for, Stone said the county could put a
pension-reduction measure on that ballot.

As for the proposed caps on campaign contributions, Stone said
it is time for limits.

"People consider us the Wild West of politics in Riverside
County," Stone said.

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in
Los Angeles, said Riverside and San Bernardino are the only heavily
populated California counties without limits.

He termed the supervisor's proposal "a good first step."

Still, Stern said he believes the limits are too high.

"Five thousand dollars is twice what I can give to a candidate
for the president of the United States or U.S. senator, so I would
make it the same as the federal limit: $2,500," he said.

Stern said he also didn't like the idea of attaching the limit
to a calendar year.

"That gives incumbents a great advantage because they can start
raising money four years before their election, at a rate of $5,000
(per contributor) per year," he said, adding that a challenger
deciding late in the game to run would be limited to one-fourth the
amount.

By comparison, San Diego County has a much smaller limit of
$500, and it is based on the election cycle.

Stone, who said he intends to run in 2012, said he was
"absolutely not" trying to carve out an advantage for himself.